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Delph: I’m a different player to Pogba

Delph joined City earlier this month after performing a U-turn on his initial decision to stay at Aston Villa.

He suffered a hamstring injury after just 20 minutes of his City debut against Real Madrid in Melbourne on Friday and could now miss the start of the new Premier League season.

And while his debut for our Australian visitors might not have gone to plan, the 25-year-old is confident he can nail down a place in Manuel Pellegrini’s first-choice XI.

“It’s a dream to come to a club as big as City and play Champions League football,” he told the Daily Mail. “That was huge for me. I think for every player, growing up as a kid you’re used to watching it.

“Probably if I hadn’t taken this opportunity now it could have passed me by.

“It’s just a great club. The opportunity to come and win trophies and play with the best players in the world, to see if I can fit in and make the step up, was too good to turn down.

“I just see it as a positive step in my career. A step forward and an opportunity to play with some of the best players in the world and lift my game.

“I can see the challenge in front of me. I’m not scared of it. I’m excited by it and I’m looking forward to it.

“Every player backs themselves. If you don’t back yourself then I think you’re going to struggle. I certainly back myself. If I’m playing alongside some of the best players in the world I’m sure it will help my game to push forward.

“I’ve come here with high expectations of myself to progress and do well.”

City signed Delph after abandoning hope of signing Pogba from Juventus this summer, but the England midfielder believes he would have been targeted by the Blues regardless.

“I think I’m a different type of player to Pogba,” he said. “Whether City were linked with him or not and they’re not getting him, I think that’s irrelevant to me coming.

“I’m coming as a box-to-box midfield player with a lot of energy and I see myself as quite different to him.

“Steven Gerrard was a hero of mine. I liked Roy Keane and Paul Scholes, a lot of central midfield players. Patrick Vieira was probably the biggest idol. If I could be like any player, it would be like Vieira was at Arsenal – box-to-box, tackling and chipping in with the odd goal.

“I ended up playing against him when he was at City and managed to get his shirt after the game. It’s sat at home.”

While Delph has hinted his wife being pregnant initially put him off moving home this summer, he admits the arrival of his daughter ultimately convinced him that joining City was the right thing to do.

“The week I didn’t travel away my wife was expecting so there was a lot more to think about than football,” Delph added.

“My family comes first and I was basically sat there waiting for my daughter to be born. Obviously in the back of my mind there was a decision to be made and I’m a City player now. I’m happy and ready to go.

“Everything changes once you have children. Your priorities change. They’re No.1. “Everything you do, every performance, every time I step on the pitch, I want it to rub off well on my family and make them proud of me. That will always be the way I think throughout my career.

“It’s been a great time for me, a bit of a rollercoaster ride. But everyone seems to be happy at the minute.

“I had great time at Villa and made great friends who I’ll keep in touch with, but I’m not really looking back. I’m not a player who dwells on things. I’m at Manchester City now and looking forward to challenging for titles.”